srizvi1

Following your advice, I've decided to buy both the AT822 and the Rode Videomic. For the Rode, Doughie over at the Sony HDV forums suggested getting the deadcat windshield thing. Do you have a similar suggestion for the AT822 - for wind protection? What about other accessories in general? That's probably the advice I'm going to follow. I feel like there will be a bit of sacrifice here though however. GuitarFX speaks very strongly about how good the AT822 works with the minidisc that I kind of want to use the AT822 only with the minidisc. but, if I was to go with the AT822 picking up rear channel sound, it would be more practical to connect the AT822 to the camera. This would mean that I go with the Rode on the boom to the minidisc, which - means I'm kind of losing out because after listening to GuitarFX, it seems it should be the AT822 that should be connected to the minidisc. With this set up, I guess SP-BMC-2 (http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-BMC-2) and my mini battery module (http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-SPSB-2) won't have much to do right? Thanks for these links. There's definitely a lot of good reading here and I will go through these as I research into mics further, and finally start experimenting with them.

I understand what you're saying GuitarFX. I just wanted to get as much information as possible before making my decision so thats why I asked so many questions which pretty much yielded the same answers over and over: the AT822. You have definitely made your case for the AT822 and I will get that along with the Rode Videomic also. I will try both the Rode and the AT822 as boom mics and both as on camera mics and go with what I think is best for each set up. But ultimately, I would like to own both. Doughie over at SonyHDVinfo thinks I can do the boom just fine with the Rode Videomic and you think I can do the boom just fine with the AT822. So I'll let my ears be the final decision makers. The way you speak so highly about how well the AT822 works with the minidisc makes me think I should ONLY use the AT822 with my MZ-RH1, with the Rode to go into the mic input of the camera. so I'm thinking, regardless of which mic I go with for the boom (the Rode or the AT822), I will only feed the AT822 into the MZ-RH1 and the Rode into the camera. The Rode 10ft cable - (hmm... or maybe 2 10ft cables might be needed?) should make this possible. For the AT822, do you have advice on any accessories? with the Rode, I Will need to get the Deadcat windshield thing to protect against wind when i use this outdoors.

Hey Guitar FX, I did check out the sound samples and they did sound good. It would have been helpful to hear some dialogue in action, as in something similar to what I'm trying to do, but I get the idea. And I have a strong feeling that you know what you're talking about so I definitely trust your advice here. I debated between your suggestion of going with the AT822 for the boom and Doughie the Moderator of sonyhdvinfo.com's advice of going with the Rode Mono Videomic for boom (the specific advice is here: http://sonyhdvinfo.com/showthread.php?t=9413 ). But over in the Using Minidisc for Video production thread over here: http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=11869, King Ghidora definitely made a strong case for going with a stereo mic instead of a directional mic. I really would like to use this mic also attached to my camera with a mount, so I think that's going to be a factor on which mic I ultimately go with. I'm pretty sure the Rode Stereo videomic will do that because I know the other Rode Mic connects fine (it has the mini plug that my camcorder uses, my HC1 camcorder doesn't have XLR inputs). King Ghidora also suggested the SonyECM-MS907 (http://www.amazon.com/Sony-ECMMS907-Digital-Recording-Microphone/dp/B00001W0DT/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-1673371-5011161?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1178040605&sr=8-1) and I saw that sound professionals had a microphone that they say is much better than this (at about double the price of the Sony, but 1/2 the price of the AT822 and the Rode Stereo Videomic): here's the sound professionals one: http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/...;source=froogle Do you have any suggestions on which to go with out of these choices, or are you standing by the AT822?

Do you have any recommendations for a hyper-cardoid or a cardoid? If that would be best for boomwork, maybe I should get that instead. I would however like to use an additional mic on my camera instead of my built in mic. By a hyper-cardoid or cardoid probably wouldn't be a good option for that right? Probably a Rode Stereo Videomic for general use? You're right, the Sound professionals mic is about double the price of the Sony (Amazon's got it for $67 here: http://www.amazon.com/Sony-ECMMS907-Digita...605&sr=8-1) but if you think the sound quality is worth it, I'm ok paying. I was already planning to spend $139 for the videomic and considered the $250 stereo videomic too. So $67 is much lower than I was expecting to pay. You bringing up this field recorder is definitely interesting, but having just made my MZ-RH1 (which is Hi-MD) purchase about 2 months ago, I'll hold off for now on a separate recording device. Just to let you know, when I bought my MZ-RH1 minidisc recorder from sound professionals, I also purchased omni mics (http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-BMC-2) and a batter module (http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-SPSB-2). As someone in video production, do you have suggestions on how I could use these while recording? Maybe I'll go with the boompole and ultimate mic I decide on (one of these: the Sony, the Sound professionals, the AT822, the Rode, the Cardoid, or the Hypercardoid) directly feeding into the camera's mic in. And I'll use the minidisc and the omni mics and battery module to capture the surrounding sound to mix in the sound to? What do you think?

Thank you for the very in depth reply Ghidora. Back in the Recording stand up thread ( http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=15910 ), GuitarFX made a very strong case for using the AT822, and I was torn between going with his suggestion and Doughie's Videomic oriented suggestion over at the SonyHDVInfo.com forum: (http://sonyhdvinfo.com/showthread.php?t=9413) After reading your post, I'm now leaning towards going with a stereo mic on a boompole. I wanted to reply and ask some further questions within your reply. So this is important because we're just going to be starting off in doing this kind of video producton so we won't fully know what we're doing. If a directional mic like the rode videomic is more sensitive to this, then a different mic is definitely the way to go. But a stereo mic would be better to recording indoors right? Less worry? We'll be recording both indoors and outdoors on this project. Which brings me to my next question, for outdoor usage on the Rode Videomic, I was going to get that Deadcat thing. When I mention my mic options below, could you please let me know what similar accessory to get with which mic you recommend? Actually, the AT822 and stereo videomic are coming up to the same price at around $250ish. When I did a search for your recommended Sony ECM-MS907 within soundprofessionals.com, their own mic came up, the SP-PSM-3 (http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/category.cgi?item=SP-PSM-3&source=froogle ) which is $139 and they say much better than the ECM-MS907. Do you have any thoughts on this mic? You mentioned a Zoom H2. I did a search for that in soundprofessionals.com and came across this field recorder: http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/ZOOM-H2 Is this what you are recommending? I am hoping to take in sound using the Camera and/or my minidisc recorder so I'm not sure if I would want this field recorder too. I will go and check out the CCI board a little bit to see if I can find anymore info. Thank you for the advice. And best of luck with your documentary, I'd love to watch it when its ready.

Hey Guitarfx, When I went in to B&H yesterday and talked to them about getting the AT822 for use as a Boom for dialogue, they talked me out of it and said I wouldn't want to use a stereo as a boom. I Would want to go with a mono for boom, and then they recommended the NTG2 instead. However, because of the camera I'm working with, the Rode Videomic would be the better option mainly because it uses the mini 1/8 cable instead of the XLR cable. I brought this question up in the sony HDV forums and Doughie, the moderator of that forum, gave me some good advice that can be read here: http://sonyhdvinfo.com/showthread.php?p=55343 What I was wondering was if the AT822 isn't good for boom purposes, what are good purposes that it would be used for and maybe I'll look into getting that mic anyways since you speak so highly of it. Also, I brought this thread here back to life: USING MINIDISC FOR VIDEO PRODUCTION I figured maybe we shouldn't take this topic too off course. So if you don't mind, can we keep our convo going over in that thread?

I wanted to bring this thread back to life as I'm hoping to use my newly purchased MZ-RH1 for film and video production. My interest in Minidisc first started off in recording Stand up comedy, and in this thread over here: Recording Stand up / Stand-up comedy - Best Minidisc Solution?, The best way to use a minidisc recorder for recording stand up comedy A440, DrDann, and GuitarFX helped me out a great deal. Within the recording Stand up thread, I started a little back and forth on film and video production audio recording with GuitarFX, but didn't want to steer the thread too off topic. I did a search for Film, and this seemed to be the thread that was the most relevant. Here's my original question as posted in the recording stand up comedy forum: After I posted this, GuitarFX suggested going with the AT822, but that idea wasn't really supported by the B&H guys I talked to on Sunday. They said I Wouldn't want to use a stereo like that for boom purposes. Over at the Sonyhdinfo.com forums (FYI - I am working on this skit with 2 Sony HC1s which is why I'm on that forum), I posted this same question phrased similarly over in this thread: 2 HC1 Owners doinga Short Film/Skit - justHave an MZ-RH1 -What else to get for Audio? And I got the following response from Doughie, a very helpful moderator there: I posted the following response back to Doughie after his help: - - - Does anyone else have anything helpful to add before I make my purchase?

So buy this mic from bhphotovideo? (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=Search&A=details&Q=&sku=68194&is=REG&addedTroughType=search ) And get a boompole for it, and connect it to the minidisc?

Actually, since these are from open mics, I'd rather put up the bits and pieces that went well. The set as a whole was ok. How about we make a deal and you keep checking back on this thread for more vids and sound samples, and I'll keep exposing more and more of my routine I'll also put up other samples from other comics in case no one here thinks I'm funny. I think yuo're right about mixing being the key here, but I think the lapel mic might not be as good an option as taking the sound out directly from the speakerbox thing the mic's connected to - right? I'll use the built in mic's sound to mix. Although by going with this option, I feel like my omni mics and battery modules will go to waste. I dont know, let me start trial and erroring a few things. I'd love to get some more input. Also, I know this is a bit off topic, but I'm heading to NYC tomorrow morning and really wanted to hit up the B&H Photo Video store to buy some sound equipment for this short film skit that I'm going to work on for the next couple weeks. It's a mock documentary thing which will involve scenes of indoors and outdoors, one person in the shot, many people in the shot... So I guess it'll have a lot of different types of Audio needed. This specific thread has mainly been about recording stand up, but knowing I'm armed with just a Sony MZ-RH1 minidisc recorder, anyone have any suggestions on what else I should get for audio recording? I'm thinking boom mic, boom pole with the sound going into the minidisc, and then getting a Rode stereovideomic to get the ambient sound to mix in. Anyone want to give me any ideas for sound recording on a short film centering around a minidisc recorder?

so I finally got around to using my new Sony MZ-RH1 to record some stand up comedy events alongside my camera (Sony HC1). I thought I'd post the links to the files here for everyone to check out. Here's the video file of which I will be posting audio files below. It's a Quicktime 7 vid (you need Quicktime 7 to play, not just any version of Quicktime): (smaller version * 3.7mb) www.r1c.com/samples/shahryar-320x176-deinterlaced-letterbox.mov (larger version * 9.9mb) www.r1c.com/samples/shahryar-480x264-letterbox-deinterlaced.mov The clip is of a short segment from my own performance that night. I messed up on the recording and didn't zoom out enough right before I went up. As a result, the top of my head is a little cut off. But the set went good so I'm going to keep using this video until I get a better one with a similar response. Here are the sound exports from the built in mic of the camera and my minidisc recorder: (19,508 KB) www.r1c.com/samples/shahryar-imovie-export.wav (17,391 KB) www.r1c.com/samples/shahryar-minidisc-audacity.wav The minidisc is definitely not as loud as what the built in mic got, but does sound richer. I need to figure out how to do recording volume stuff. Shouldn't be too hard, I just need to read the manual.

No, no.. I'm not downplaying the importance of the forum's purpose (being a source of information). I just thought allowing more than one website to be listed in the "website" field would allow information to remain organized better. But yeah, this is forum software related so I guess its not really in your hands. Maybe in the next version they'll have this option? If not, ah well, at least we got our signatures.

Alright, there was a little delay in getting the minidisc to me, but its all done now. I'm not sure how soon my first event is going to be that I'll record, but I'll keep this thread updated. Thank you to Rich (the admin) from moving this thread from "find your minidisc" to Live Recordings as it has turned into a very nice tutorial on recording stand up and similar events. I'll keep this thread updated with my findings. A440 - I just shot you a pm asking your opinion on some lavs (we had discussed this option earlier). I probably won't use the lavs specifically for recording stand up, but I know it'll come in handy for other things.

I saw in the options that you can list your website. I'm sure many people here have multiple websites they'd like to have included there.

Just went ahead and ordered 10. It seemed like a good number. I added 9 to the cart and 11 to the cart and the shipping stayed roughly the same, varying by maybe $.10 or so cents. Thanks for the lead A440. I have no idea how many I need, but I think 10 should be sufficient (at least for now).

Is this a good price for the minidiscs? I just bought an RH1 and it will be shipping on Monday from soundprofessionals.com (I also got a mic and battery module from them too). It comes with 1 minidisc but I figured I should get a few more. I was thinking a 3 pack would be sufficient? sorry for the noob question, but how much time can I record on a regular minidisc at the highest sound quality?

Ok, sweet, everything worked out. I finally purchased the minidisc recorder today (9 months after first asking about it) and I guess its a glitch in their shopping cart software because I was still able to save $20 on the headphones because I had already added the minidisc recorder to the cart w/ the microphone before I asked for the discount. I had been emailing back and forth with the sales guy over at soundprofessionals.com though and he's a cool guy so I told him that I was still able to save the $20 even though he said they wouldn't honor the price drop on the microphone anymore. Hopefully he'll let me keep the money because of my honesty. I got the battery module too. Now I need to find another 3 pack of minidiscs and I'll be set (my assumption is that each minidisc holds about an hour of Hi-MD sound). I'm totally new to minidisc.

Ok, so then the battery module is a definite go. No problem. I have 56 minutes left on this auction. God I hope this goes through without a hitch. I'm familiar with the clapper thing for the audio sync up and will be sure to do that with the recordings (on both stand up and my future short film project).

The main plan I have right now is to use the minidisc to get crowd sound. I'm going to set it towards the crowd, right in the middle and do the recordings there. So if you think this extra battery thing will help me do a better job of getting that sound, then I'll trust you on it and pick it up. I'm hoping to use a mic in from the sound system for the actual comedian, or (next purchase) a cardoid mic on my camera. Right now, the built in mic isn't the ideal sound solution. Down the road though, I'd like to take advantage of my minidisc to use for sound in a short film that I want to complete over the next few months. I'm hoping to browse the forums a little bit to see how exactly people are using their minidisc for this. Thank you again for all your help.

Everybody in this thread (most importantly A440), I have a confession to make: We got into heavy discussion on purchasing a minidisc to record stand up back in 2006, but shortly after, I kind of fell off the recording horse and buying the minidisc slipped from my list of priorities. However, I'm back into the recording scene now and know that I have to make the minidisc purchase. Anyway, I'm definitely ready to get that minidisc so I was wondering if there were any final suggestions that may have changed in the past 6 months since we last talked. I still want to go with Soundprofessionals.net for buying everything which is: The actual MD Recorder (with the suggested upgraded stereo microphones): SONY-MZ-RH1 SONY MZ-RH1, MZRH1 - NOW IN STOCK - FREE MICROPHONE INCLUDED (SELECT IN DROP-DOWN BOX) - $69 RETAIL VALUE! PC AND MAC COMPATIBLE HIMD/MP3 MINIDISC RECORDER Include SP-BMC-2 Omnidirectional Stereo Microphones with clips (Save $20); No extra blank discs (one is included in recorder package); No external battery pack; No hard case; No extended warranty $357.00 $357.00 Your Total is $357.00 And the battery mic module: SP-SPSB-2 SOUND PROFESSIONALS SUPER MINI BATTERY MODULE. MADE IN USA. 6 inch output cable; No extra batteries; Standard 2 year Warranty (no charge) I'm going to see if I can get soundprofessionals.net to match the MZ-RH1 price of minidisco.com which is $299 http://www.minidisco.com/Sony-MZ-RH1?gclid...CFSbUgAod_XLnxg Let's see if it works. Thanks again guys. And just wanted to let you know that your efforts won't go down in vain.

Thanks A440. I'm going to get the 24" cable then unless you suggest otherwise. Ordering today. If there's anything else I need besides the MD recorder, the SP-CM2-2 (with clips), and this battery mic module, let me know. Shahryar

alright.. after two months of diddly-daddlying, I'm ready to jump on this. A440, I think this post is more directed at you since you've been actively helping me so much. bhphotovideo.com has got it for $319, and soundprofessionals.com has got it for $328. But since I need that sp-bcm-2 microphone, I'm just going to get from soundprofessionals. plus, I saw something on their site saying to call in if I found a better price so maybe I can get them to match it. I'll make sure that I get the sp-bcm-2's with the clips. I'm going to get a nice tripod, a Sony one that has recording controls on its handle, so I'm going to take my two old crappy tripods and place them in the middle towards the back of the crowd - I just hope the show organizers don't get mad whenever I do this cause it might be a little distracting. I wanted to get everything in one shot, The mic amplifier you pointed to, is there something like this available from soundprofessionals.com? Let me know when you get a chance so I can place this order. I'll be sure to let you know how this all turns out.

Thanks for all your help A440. This thread will serve as my blueprint.

Thanks for the tutorial A440. My purchase list now starts with the RH1, and then a pair of omni mics for the crowd. Any recommendations for a good omni mic? can I use both mics into the same minidisc recorder? or am I looking to need two minidisc recorders for each mic? I'll skip the expensive, complicated wireless set up that was suggested in the sonyhdvinfo.com forum for now. The mic connected to the comedian with the recorder in the pocket seems like a good idea, but it'll probalby require another minidisc recorder so maybe that's not the best option for now. I know the line-out to minidisc from soundboard is ideal, but I've yet to come across an easy soundboard setup that I could just get a line out from. So that's why I'm trying to come up with workarounds. From what you've said, I think I'll try to do the following (let me know if I'm on the right track): 2 omni mics and (I hope) one minidisc recorder in the crowd, as far back as possible, separated by 6 inches. If I ever have a line out off a soundboard, I'll take that right into the into my laptop and record with Audacity. (I have that on home PC, but I hope there's a version for apple OS X). What if I invest in the beachtek dxa-4p? Here's a link to the product: http://beachtek.com/dxa4.html and some discussion of it in action: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/archive/index.php/t-16882.html If I was to get this, I'm thinking I could use the beachtek and two mics to focus on the crowd, and use the minidisc to focus on the comedian - either by directly mic-ing him up, or pulling the sound off the soundboard.

Hey, thanks for getting me started guys. Maybe I'll switch the plan around and use the minidisc connected to an omni mic to get good, clean crowd sound. I'll leave this set up in the middle of the room, or maybe towards the back? I didn't pay attention fully to how a shotgun mic is directional. A shotgun mic might be something I leave at home then when recording comedy shows because though the camera's on the comedian, the sound is coming from the speakers which are scattered around. So if that's the case, wouldn't the mic not help? I asked some questions about using minidisc with our cameras in the sonyhdvinfo.com forum and one of the moderators gave me some good advice I thought was worth putting in here (a little of it goes off the minidisc topic, but I think its helpful):

Hey guys, I'm very new to the minidisc world, but know that I finally need to stop putting off this purchase. In addition to my own stand up comedy, I'm going to be recording other comedians around the DC area with my Sony HD Camera (HC1). And as great as the built in mic is, I really would like a better audio solution. I've heard that the minidisc is the way to go so that's what I'd like to do. I thought I'd come to you guys to see if anyone can give me some input. Any other advice on microphone selection, etc. would be very much preferred. I do plan to improve my mic on my camera with a shotgun mic (Rode Videomic is the recommendation on the sonyhdvinfo.com forums), and I was thinking maybe sometime soon I could get a little fancy and mix the audios with the minidisc being focused on the comedian and the camera-mic on the audience? I don't know. i'm thinking out loud here and have no idea what I'm talking about. Any advice would be appreciated.